Innovative technique meets innovative spirit – or was it vice versa?

On 29th March,2016, the new procedure to prevent contamination known in Vienna under the name of PDc-technology was awarded with the ECONOVIUS 2016. This innovation prize of the Austrian Chamber of Commerce carrying a value of 15.000 € was awarded to the company Ortner Reinraumtechnik GmbH in Villach. Ortner developped together with some other research partners a new procedure, the so-called Photodynamic Disinfection certified Technoloy (PDcT), which is able to securely disinfect within a few minutes persons including their clothes without putting them at risk. With the help of a manlock and the thereby necessary technological procedures it is now possible for the people working in the cleanroom area to enter different cleanroom classes or security zones without having to change their clothes each time.

You can leave your suit on …

The human being is and remains the most important source of danger in all cleanroom productions. Employees in sensitive areas like intensive care units or quarantine offices or in the food industry often have to protect themselves or the products against germs or bacteria. With the development of PDcT things are getting more simple. The quick disinfection is reached via a natural way with the help of a specific colorant in the clothes and the radiation through light. Scientifically considered photodynamics is the reaction of a colorant on a special wavelength of the light. With the help of this reaction the nature generates the energy-rich and reactive “singlet oxygen” which reacts with many unwanted germs and prevents their growth.

In the case of the photodynamic disinfection this highly reactive oxygen is well-directed used to destroy germs and viruses under the influence of a source of light. The used light is in the visible sector so that there is no danger of radiation sources for the users. Since the year 2015 the qualities of photodynamic disinfection has been available in the form of clothes. Thus it is for the first time possible to decontaminate people within their working environment and consequently to minimize the transfer of germs through humans. Scientific examinations confirm a controlled rate of germ decimation of 90 % in 3.7 minutes. The degree of efficiency can be increased by up to 99% according to light intensity and length of radiation.

World novelty made in Austria with German partners

The development of the PDc-technology lasted over 6 years and was conducted in tight cooperation between economy and science. As close partners the following companies worked together: the specialists for cleanroom technology of Ortner Reinraumtechnik GmbH, the garment specialist Dastex Reinraumzubehör GmbH & Co. KG and the colorant producer M. Dohmen. The basic research in the sector of microbiology and process engineering was realized by the scientific partners of the Technical University of Graz and the Research Center Pharmaceutical Engineering in Graz. Together with the Joanneum Research GmbH the right light technique was developped. The examination of its efficiency was done by the Fraunhofer-Institut IPA, the TITV Greiz – Institute for special textiles and flexible materials, the German Institutes for textile and fiber research (DITF) and the HIT Hohenheitm Institut für Textilinnovation GmbH (Institute for textile innovation).

Visionary concept promoted with heart and soul

Whereas the new technology in the sector of pharmaceutical and food production has already been used successfully, the PDcT has to be also used in clinical application areas like oncology, neantology, intensive care, ward rooms or post-rehabilitation centers for transplantation patients. Josef Ortner, chief executive officer of Ortner Reinraumtechnik GmbH, whom we interviewed at the LOUNGES in Stuttgart, was very happy about the recognition which was given to this innovation by this prize award. “We are of course really happy about this prize which we see as a recognition and to a certain degree as an end to our interdisciplinary development project. The developped procedure will now find its way in the different application areas. The numerous enquiries show that there is enough interest.” Nevertheless Ortner, who has been promoting the project for many years showing a strong commitment to this project, clarifies as well: “Without the good and tight cooperation with our partners Dastex and Dohmen as well as the participating scientific institutes this innovation wouldn’t have been possible.”

Open handling with chances as well as with weak points

Carsten Moschner, chief executive of Dastex Reinraumzubehör GmbH & Co. KG confirmed that, instead of an ambition of monetary success, it was more a search for something completely new in the sector of apparatus engineering as well as clothes in order to display one’s courage to think laterally. “Cleanroom technology is a matter of trust and we also wanted to shape to a certain degree an innovation culture which I consider is sometimes a bit weak in our industry sector. As far as this innovation is concerned we aren’t only interested in a show effect à la world novelty. In fact with this innovation we want to take care of all chances on the one hand and on the other of all weak points and frontiers of this technology which might still be there. It is not helpful to think that the PDcT would do all the disinfection work allone from now on. The human has still to be able to use critical thinking skills.”

Following the issue or even better thinking laterally is what Josef Ortner wants to practice even more in the future.  The chief executive with visionary potential thinks that there is many an innovation field in the cleanroom sector. which is still unexplored. We are curious about how it’s going on.